Eduard Punset Casals (Barcelona, 9 November 1936) is a lawyer, writer, economist, populariser, scientist and politician. His life reflects his ideals of service, both personal and existential. He was a militant in various political parties during the dictatorship and the democratic transition. He has written numerous books to popularise science and has worked extensively in television. Since 1996, he has directed the TVE programme “Redes”, which deals with various scientific topics in fields such as sociology, medicine, psychology, biology and astronomy.
He studied secondary education in Los Angeles, obtained a degree in law from the Complutense University of Madrid and graduated in economics at the University of London and the École pratique des hautes études in Paris. He has worked as a BBC economics editor, as director of the economics section in the Latin American edition of the weekly magazine The Economist (1967-1969) and as an economist attached to the International Monetary Fund in the United States and in Haiti (1969-1973).
In 1978 he was elected Minister of Economy and Finance for the Government of Catalonia and was a member of parliament following the first elections to the Parliament of Catalonia (1980). He was Minister of Relations with the European Communities (1980-1981). In the general elections of 1988 he won a seat as a CiU independent. In 1987 and 1989 he was elected a Member of the European Parliament for CDS, a position he held until 1994. In 1991 he created a new political party, Foro, which was dissolved in 1995. As an expert in new technologies, he has been an adviser, director and lecturer at various institutions including COTEC, ESADE, Bull Technological Institute, Enher and the Faculty of Economics of the Chemical Institute of Sarrià (Ramon Llull University).
He has received numerous prizes and distinctions, including the Ciudad de Alcalá Premio de las Artes y las Letras 2012, Doctor Honoris Causa at the University of the Balearic Islands (2010), the Spanish Professional Association of Press, Radio and Television Informants Award (2008), GQ Man of the Year Award for Best Writer (2008), Honourable Mention of the Spanish Society of Neurology (2008), Manel Xifra i Boada Prize from the College of Technical Industrial Engineers, Girona (2008), Rey Jaime I Journalism Prize (2007) and the Spanish Association of Scientists Award (2001). According to the Foreign Policy magazine, he was considered one of the ten most influential intellectuals in Latin America in 2012.
He is the author of numerous books, including La salida de la crisis (1980), España: sociedad cerrada, sociedad abierta (1982), La España impertinente (1986), Manual para sobrevivir en el siglo XII (2000), Cara a cara con la vida, la mente y el universo (2004), El alma está en el cerebro. Radiografía de la máquina de pensar (2006), ¿Por qué somos como somos? (2008), El viaje a la felicidad (2005), El viaje al amor (2007), El viaje al poder de la mente (2010), Excusas para no pensar (2011), Viaje al optimismo (2011), Lo que nos pasa por dentro. Un millón de vidas al descubierto (2012) and, recently, El sueño de Alicia (2013).
LiberPress Catalonia Award 2013
Eduard Punset received the LiberPress Catalonia Award for a long, multi-faceted career, in which, humanely, culturally, scientifically, literarily and politically, he has given himself to others; because, with his wisdom, prudence and sense of humour, he honours all the citizens of this world; for his proximity and his way of teaching, revealing, awakening, helping, popularising and raising awareness, in a simple, easy, attractive, tender way; for his ability to communicate, to try delicately to make us understand who we are, what we are like, where we are, what we are doing here, and, perhaps, with luck and patience, what we can expect.